Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Hernar 15 April 2009 - Great Egret - great day!

Great (White) Egret egretthegre, Hellesøy

One of the many Chiff-chaff gransanger present on Hernar today

Meadow Pipit heipiplerke

Twite bergirisk

Decided to opt for Hernar today and was very pleased I did so - whilst waiting for the boat to leave a Great Egretegretthegre came flying over from the north and disappeared southwards. This represents only the second record for Øygarden.

Hernar itself was lifting with migrants -although none could compete with the egret. A minimum of six Chiff-chaff gransanger, a Willow Warbler løvsanger, two Blackcap munk and at least eight Wheatear steinskvett were seen.

Good numbers of Twite bergirisk, Linnet tornirisk, a Pied Wagtail svartryggerle and several White Wagtail linerle meant that there was always something to see.

Back home at Tjeldstø the Greenland Whitefront tundragås fed beside Husvatnet and a juvenile Golden Eagle kongeørn flew over the reserve - a long awaited new species for my garden list which now stands at 154.